A fire Thursday afternoon did significant damage to the exterior of an office building at College and Jefferson streets that is used by the Illinois Secretary of State Department of Securities.

Firefighters arrived a little before 2 p.m. to find the east side of the three-story building engulfed in flames. The blaze, which appeared to have started on the exterior of the structure, was quickly extinguished.

Springfield Fire Chief Ken Fustin said it appears that discarded smoking materials set some bushes on fire just outside the building. The fire spread to the side of the building, and the intensity of the heat broke out some of the windows.

The sprinkler system was able to stop the flames from spreading to the interior, Fustin said.

About 25 secretary of state employees were inside when the fire started. The only occupants, their office is on the southwest side of the building on the third floor. That's the opposite side from where the fire started.

Susan LaRussa of Springfield said she and some of her co-workers smelled smoke but didn't see any flames in their office. They were looking around for the cause of the smell when the fire alarm sounded, she said, so they alerted the other employees before heading for the stairs.

“When we started down the stairwell, we noticed the smoke was getting pretty thick,” LaRussa said. “When we got outside … we saw that the east side of the building was totally engulfed. The trees and picnic tables were on fire, and there was a pretty big brush fire. The windows were breaking out and glass was flying. It was pretty scary once we saw what was going on.”

Damage from the fire was readily apparent on the exterior of the building, where parts had been burned away all the way up to the third floor.

Henry Haupt, spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said that because the office space was not damaged, the employees are expected to return to work Friday.